1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a developer carrying member to be used in a developing unit for developing a latent image formed on a photosensitive drum in a recording method utilizing an electrophotographic method to visualize the latent image, and to a developing unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, there have been growing demands from users in the market that an image-forming apparatus employing an electrophotographic method should have higher image quality and a longer lifetime. In such circumstances, it has become important to provide a developer carrying member capable of increasing a triboelectric charge quantity of a developer and stabilizing triboelectric charge-providing performance for the developer over a long time period. To solve the problem, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-125966 discloses a developer carrying member using a quaternary ammonium base-containing acrylic resin as a surface layer on a surface of its substrate. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-125966 describes that use of such developer carrying member can improve image quality and stabilize a printed image density. However, the developer carrying member has room for further improvement because the member is still unable to sufficiently meet the demands.